Russia says it will not internationalise Kashmir issue

Russia will not succumb to pressure from
the G-8 countries, particularly the United States, to
internationalise the Kashmir issue, the Voice of Russia has
said.

In a national programme on Asia and Africa broadcast yesterday,
the state-run radio also made a forceful plea to New Delhi and
Islamabad to settle all their disputes within the framework of the
Simla agreement, signed in 1972 between then Indian prime
minister Indira Gandhi and her Pakistani counterpart Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

At the same time, it urged the two countries to put their
signatures on international agreements on banning the testing of all
nuclear weapons and their proliferation.

Meanwhile, another commentary on the Voice of Russia, while
referring to the coming South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit in Colombo, welcomed the prospect of improvement in Indo-Pak ties as a result of the A B Vajpayee-Nawaz Sharief meeting during the summit.